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After a mad dash by car from Barcelona on Sunday, complete with him visiting his 88 year-old grandmother, he made it in time. Luckily his opponent was the wayward Australian Bernard Tomic on a surface that favoured the world number 191. The result was a 6-4 5-7 6-4 6-4 victory and a minimum pay cheque of 79,000 Euros, by far the biggest in his humble career.

The penny dropped around Sunday lunchtime that he could make the draw, and no time was wasted. Within half an hour he, his wife, brother, mother and grandmother were on the road.

'Actually, my grandma was in the shower and were going to head to the beach. I told her, okay, we go to Paris. There were many flights cancelled, so I didn't trust them too much,' he said.

'And then there is no train now in France (due to strikes) so the best option was always to just take the car.

The Argentine's grandmother and brother speak to the media following his brilliant victory

'We left at 1pm and we got here 11pm or something like that. So we arrived and I slept five hours, maximum. And then we came here 7:30 this morning.'

'In Argentina, if you're not living in Buenos Aires, then 1000 kilometers is like nothing. So it wasn't a big deal for us. I lost on Thursday here, so Friday I didn't play. Saturday I didn't practice, we had a barbecue. Sunday, nothing. So just today the warmup, and then we went to the court.'

In a sport whose high demands and global competitiveness mean that romance is in short supply, he has provided a happy diversion.

Trungelliti, who even looks the part of a Beatnik with his shaggy hair and beard, might even progress further as now he meets the unseeded Italian Marco Cecchinato.

Trungilleti may even progress further as he faces unseeded Marco Cecchinato next